Doing Better

Mia's bottom is doing much better, thank you for praying and thank you God! A few days after Christmas, she wasn't feeling great and threw up, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because she didn't eat for 1/2 a day and ended up not having a dirty diaper for awhile which allowed her diaper rash to clear up, since then we have been extremely diligent about very frequent changes and it seems to be working. I think her body might finally be getting adjusted to having stool on the skin, but we still are being very careful to keep some good ointment on her bottom. We're just so thankful it isn't irritated like before.

We are working on getting Mia to try walking on her own, her therapist says she's ready, but Mia says she isn't. We are trying to encourage her trying to take some steps on her own, so far not much has happened, but keep praying and we'll let you know the moment it does!

It looks like we are going to be switching speech therapists, not by choice, apparently there is an approved place in Bakersfield for speech therapy, so we are going to try it out and if it isn't a good fit then we'll just end up paying out of pocket for Mia to go back to where she was. Pray that it's a good fit, I'm hopeful. We won't be able to start for a few weeks though, so Mia will just get a break for a little bit, but we keep on encouraging speech at home and I notice her trying to say more sounds, which is so great! And I just love hearing that "Mama".

For Christmas I got so many nice gifts, but my favorite was when Daddy and Mommy told me I'm getting a new brother or sister, but they were back-ordered, so I won't get to meet him or her until next August or September. Will you pray for my new brother or sister? I trust that God is creating him or her perfectly, I just don't want them to spend all the time in the hospital like I did. I'm so excited, a baby for me! And Daddy and Mommy too.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Mia

Disneyland!

We had a fun trip to Disneyland on Saturday. It was Mia's first time to the park, so that was very exciting. She loved It's A Small World. It was decorated for Christmas and they were singing Jingle Bells and It's A Small World, so it wasn't the same music the entire trip, maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much too. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip.

Pray for Mia's diaper rash, it's back in full force and nothing seems to be clearing it up. :(

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

Mommy's friend from where she used to work, Jennifer, knit me this awesome hat and scarf, just like yours! What do you think?! Mommy had a hard time getting my picture taken because I was being "snooky classic". Is it true that you really visit every single home on Christmas Eve? That's amazing! Can I come along sometime? I will wear my hat! I could be your helper. I do like to help, even if I am a bit messy sometimes. I love you Santa and can't wait to meet your reindeer!

Love,
Mia

P.S. Guess what Santa, tomorrow is my mommy's birthday and we are going to Disneyland!!!! I'm so excited!!!! And it's going to snow!!!! I'll put some more pictures on here when we get back.

School Days!

Here is Mia's school picture, it was taken at the beginning of November. Isn't that the cutest 2 year old school picture EVER! I am not biased, but she does look darling.

Mia's bottom is looking better, we still don't have the elusive ilex cream, we've ordered some and are waiting for it to get here, but with some minor changes in how we clean her bottom, she's doing much better.

And I'll get the "mama" on video and we'll post that on the blog, it is so sweet!

Mama

Today we went to LA to see Mia's surgeon. He thought that her incisions looked fine and gave us some advice on taking care of her bottom. They also brought out the Ilex cream, so we put that on her bottom right away, hopefully we'll see some changes in the next couple of days. We have a few other remedies that we are looking into if this doesn't work. The good news is that we don't have to go back to visit the surgeon for another 1-2 months! That's a nice feeling!

The surgeon gave approval for Mia to be able to go back in the tub again, so when we got home we put her in there straight away. She loved every moment of it and it was great for her bottom because it cleaned everything off very gently. So, we'll definitely be doing daily tub time.

When Mia got out of the tub she said, "mama" for the first time since this summer! It was so sweet. We've noticed her saying a few more sounds, so we know that God continues to work in her speech. Praise God for saying mama!!!!



This picture was taken awhile ago, it is one of Mia's favorite activities...pulling all her socks/night clothes out of her drawer. :)

The Same

So her bottom is still the same, it is extremely red and irritated, occasionally it bleeds and we are just in agony every time we change her diaper. We have got some different recommendations from a few people and have tried alot of stuff, but we are still going to give a few more different remedies a try. One that seems hopeful to us is called Ilex cream, and from what I've read it does wonders on the worst looking bottoms. But we can't get it until Monday, so keep praying that her bottom would get better and not worse. Pray for normal bowel movements because they just aren't normal yet and continued healing.

In the back of my mind and deep in my heart I keep having this feeling that the reason we are where we are with the diaper rash is because she can't control her bowels. And I imagine that it is too early to actually determine that, this is all very new for her, but I can't seem to get that thought out of my mind. I didn't actually want to right this paragraph because as I type it, it seems more real and that there might be some truth to my fears. But I also know that we serve a God who is HUGE and if he wants Mia to control her bowels, then she will. And so my real purpose in writing this is for those of you who pray for Mia, that you would add this to the list, we've prayed for it before, but I just feel a renewed need to pray for it again. And now as I finish this paragraph, that fear isn't so scary to me, I feel a burden lifted knowing that you will pray as we pray and I trust God's answer completely. So, thank you for praying!!!

Aside from a very sore bottom, Mia is doing great. We went back to school for the first time since Mia's surgery and everyone was very excited to see her. The kids said, "Mia" when we went inside, it was very cute.

We've been noticing more sounds and attempts at talking with Mia, which is great. She will mouth the word Mama, but no sound comes out, so we will keep working on that.

Please just keep praying for healing of her bottom, we are trying some different remedies and hopefully it will clear up soon.

Diaper Rash

So Mia now has a case of diaper rash. We were anticipating this happening eventually. It is super uncomfortable and changing diapers is no fun. We keep putting on the cream that the doctor gave us and so hopefully it will start to get better soon, but be praying for her.

She's getting around much better and eating much better! Those are definite praises! We have even started back to therapy, but aren't pushing her too much yet.

We were supposed to go to LA today, but since the grapevine was closed (the pass over the mountains to get to LA) because of ice and snow we rescheduled for next week. Hopefully the weather will clear up and things will be much better next week!

A little better...

So, Mia is actually doing a little better today, thank you God! She was much more active and ate a little bit better today. She still isn't drinking great and we can always improve in the area of eating. As for bowel movements, it continues to come just a little by little, maybe as she gets more active and eats better things will start to regulate. She is still in a bit of pain, especially when she passes gas or stool, so keep praying for that to become more normal.

On a side note, I weighed her this morning, we are back to 20 pounds, I'm not surprised with everything she's been through, but pray that she would quickly put back on the weight.

This morning we decided to hang some Christmas lights outside, and Mia was Daddy's little helper. Here are some pictures. :)






And this next one is Mia's "bedhead", this is what her hair looked like when she first got up, oh my.

Still Waiting

I thought for sure today we'd have lots of movement, but there hasn't been much at all. And Mia is still obviously uncomfortable. Today she also hasn't eaten as well. The good news is that she is a little bit more active and I know that will help in this area also. Pray for continued healing and movement and pain management for our little pumpkin.

Tonight we have finally had a little bit of a bowel movement, that makes me think we are getting closer. Mia is still very uncomfortable when things are trying to get through, so keep praying and Praise God for movement in the right direction!

Still Uncomfortable

We've been home from the hospital for about 2 days now and Mia is still very uncomfortable. What is slightly concerning is that she hasn't had a bowel movement in 2 days now, I know that is not uncommon for kids...I just wish I could see inside her tummy/intestines to see what was going on. I talked to her surgeon today and he said to give her another day or two and then we'll check back in and go from there. So pray for a bowel movement! When we were in the hospital (this might be too much information, but it will help you gain perspective), her bowel movements were super runny, like diarrhea, and so when we started feeding her "regular" food, we tried some foods that would help get rid of that, I don't know if that was too much and now we've flipped to the other side, or what is happening. So pray for wisdom and a bowel movement!

Discharged!

We have officially been discharged! We are on our way home as I write this. Mia is doing well, she still is very uncomfortable as her body adjusts to real food again. Pray that she would adjust quickly. It's great to be going home!

So, they are starting Mia on regular food today and assuming all goes well we should be discharged tomorrow! She has been healing well and is uncomfortable every now and then, so pray that her body would tolerate the food adjustment.

Mia's First Dirty Diaper!

Mia has been having small amounts of clear liquids since about 12:30 today and she has had her first dirty diapers! There was much rejoicing over the stinky diaper! So, we are doing great! Praise God for dirty diapers!

Mia lost her IV this afternoon, so they are closely watching her liquid intake, so far she has barely been making the cutoff, so hopefully she won't need a new IV, pray that her tummy would continue to adjust to the stuff going in and that she wouldn't need an IV.

Mia continues to look and act more and more like her normal self each day. What we've heard is that because her tummy has started waking up (she has been passing gas), they are going to start her on some clear liquids today. We haven't started yet, but we will let you know how it goes. Pray that she would tolerate this well.

Her IV is still working, thank you Lord! We aren't ready to lose it yet, so pray that it would hang in there until she doesn't need it anymore. I'm amazed it has lasted this long, it's a definite answer to prayer!

Mia slept much better last night and only needed a half dose of pain medication one time, so far today she hasn't needed anyway, which is more great news! We continue to be so grateful at how well everything is going! Thank you for praying (I know we say it alot, but it means the world to us that you would take time to pray for our little girl.)

Doing great!

Mia is doing awesome! She started passing gas, and let me tell you, I have never been that excited about gas before in my life. That is an excellent sign that her plumbing is healing, and we'll be trying some food in no time. (A day or two?) Mia is also acting more and more normal, smiling, laughing, just being her normal cute self. Thank you SO much for praying, God gave the skills and abilities and knowledge to the doctors here, and we are forever grateful.

Philippians 4:6-7
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Mia continues to do really well, she has been sitting more upright and watching us play with her toys, and that's been very good for her. Her surgeon stopped by this morning and thought she looked really good for only 2 days after surgery. His concern is for her intestines to start working in the next day or so, otherwise we are going to start some different IV fluids with more calories/nutrition in them. The downside to this is that they have to make sure she is getting the proper dose and that means daily blood draws, and there is a potential risk to the liver with this, however if she needs nutrition then this is what will happen. Pray for those intestines to start working.

She hasn't been in too much pain, she hasn't had any pain medicine since last night, which is amazing. Continue to pray for her pain management and overall healing. Her IV is also barely holding on, so keep praying for that too. And as always, thank you for praying!

Colorful Friday

Mia is still doing very well overall. We got some better sleep last night, we were still up several times to change diapers and take vitals, but it was less interrupted than the day before. Hopefully Mia will get several good naps today.

So, right now some of the concerns are that her tummy is a little bloated because her intestines haven't "woken up" yet. If she were a little more active that would help getting them going again. Pray that she would start to pass gas because that will help with the bloating. Her lungs have a bit of junk in them also because we haven't been very active, so pray that they would clear up as she gets to feeling better (we just don't want it to develop into pneumonia, which can be very common). Also, her IV is starting to show signs of not lasting much longer and we still need it, so pray that it would hang on as long as we need it.

Last night Nana was very creative and we ended up having a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. It was nice. We have so much to be thankful for! Thank you Lord for blessing us abundantly and may we be continually reminded of how you sent your son as the ultimate blessing and sacrifice in the coming weeks as we prepare for Christmas.

The Best Thanksgiving Ever...quite possibly. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so blessed, I know the next few days won't be easy for Mia, but my heart keeps doing these little summersaults of joy. It's so exciting to be on the final road of recovery. Thank you God for such a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mia is doing great, she had a small fever last night, but after some Tylenol she's much better. She is getting morphine for pain control and so that makes her a bit itchy, so then she gets Benadryl for the itchiness. I think she is tolerating her pain fairly well, so keep praying for that! Right now she and Daddy are watching Elmo and she is happy as can be.

They just came in and did a blood draw on her and I was so thankful that they had no problems getting blood out of her, her veins have miraculously become better with this surgery! Praise God! You can keep praying that she won't lose her IV, it's on her right hand and she rubs that hand on her nose when she is itchy, I try to keep holding her hand, but I don't always catch it. :)

Yesterday the surgeon told me that he used a muscle stimulator to test how her anal muscles were doing and she was able to contract her muscles very well, which is a great sign that she will be able to physically control her bowels, now time will only tell if she cognitively is able to make that connection herself, but such great news! Thank you God for working muscles!

You can continue to pray for healing, they will be listening to her tummy for the next couple of days and listening for the right sounds that tell us when her body says it is ok to put food in. They also look at what comes out of your diaper and when she starts to produce stuff, then they will know her intestines are starting to work again. Pray for her to pass gas because that will help to keep things moving through the tummy. Of course, every time we give her morphine that slows down the whole process, so pray for a good balance, that her intestines would start working in spite of the pain medicine.

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving as we are!

Not eating for three to five days

We just learned that Mia is not going to be eating for three to five days till her intestine repair has a chance to heal. I assumed that they would give her calories by IV, but the nurse said that was not the plan. There are some calories in IV fluid, but not as much as TPN. ( Total Parental Nutrition) Some residents from the surgery team came by and told us that when the body starts putting stuff through the repaired intestine, that is a sign it's ok for Mia to start eating. Mia got some Morphine by IV, every two hours as needed for pain. We don't want her to hurt. We also met some more people from Bakersfield here, our neighbor Isabel and her husband Richard, and Darren Singleton is here with his son Jacob. What a small town! Thanks for thinking of us this thanksgiving, and all your prayers for a quick recovery.

Great News

Praise God, Mia is done with surgery and everything went really well! She is in recovery and we are waiting to see her, I will post more later tonight, but we are so grateful and thankful to all of you for praying and to God be the Glory!!!

We just heard from the OR, Mia is doing great, IV's went in no problem, they just started the procedure.

We just watched them take Mia into the OR, they are going to be putting in IV lines and preparing for surgery. Pray for easy IV access and a smooth surgery. It should take about 3 hours, we will let you know when we hear something new.

We got to LA safely and are waiting for Mia's scheduled surgery time: 8:30. She didn't sleep well last night, but she did sleep in the car ride down. When we got here everyone remembered her from this summer, they were excited this is going to be her last surgery. Right now she is happily playing.

Pray for easy IV access, they won't try until they take her back, but she has always been difficult to get IV's in.

Doing Great

Mia has done so great day, thank you God! She has been drinking her Pedialyte like a trooper and even enjoyed some chicken broth for lunch. She does not like jello, for whatever reason, so we've been sticking to the Pedialyte and broth. She hasn't been complaining too much. I feel bad eating, so I don't eat in front of her, so I guess she just thinks that this is what it is today.

Please continue to pray for tonight and tomorrow. I just found out that we have to be there at 6am for an 8:30am surgery time. That's actually pretty realistic, so we will be leaving here around 4am tomorrow. Pray for safe travel and that Mia would fall back asleep in the car, otherwise it could be a long ride for her.

Pray that everything would go well tomorrow and we will post things as soon as we are able, so we will definitely keep you up-to-date. God is so good and we continue to trust Him through this final surgery for Mia.

Miralax

So, the Miralax has worked great, almost too great. She drank it without any complaints this morning mixed in with her apple juice and about an hour later we were completely cleared out. I forgot how runny liquid in her bag makes it not stick so well, so two bag changes later, we hopefully have a good system for the rest of the day. Cotton Puffs. Yup, stick them in her bag and they soak everything up, I just have to be proactive in checking her bag about once an hour and replacing those puffs.

Overall she has tolerated today super well. She's been drinking alot of Pedialyte, so hopefully that will keep her from becoming dehydrated. She tried some jello, but didn't really like it, we are going to try some chicken broth after we get up from our nap. I do have to say that Elmo has kept us very happy so far, you gotta love that red fur ball.

Thanks for praying and I'll post more later with how the rest of our day goes.

Clear Liquid Day

Tomorrow Mia begins her prep for her intestinal surgery on Wednesday, so all day she will be on clear liquids. After doing some research and talking with a friend who is a doctor, I decided to ask UCLA if Mia could take Miralax instead of the Oral Fleet. There were concerns with the Fleet because it was voluntarily recalled last year after it was linked to kidney problems. Since Mia has had some kidney issues in the past, I was more concerned and definitely wanted to proceed on the side of caution, so tomorrow we will be taking Miralax, which is much more gentle, instead. Pray that everything would go smoothly, that the Miralax would do the job and that Mia would stay hydrated. I'm trying to get as much done today and tonight so that I can just be with her tomorrow and not worry about packing, etc. We can just have a fun day playing games and watching her favorite Elmo videos. Please keep praying for everything to go smoothly on Wednesday and for the entire surgical team to be at their best. I will let you know how tomorrow goes!!!

Mia is doing great, thank you for praying! It's getting closer to surgery day and I have to continually remind myself that God commands us to not be anxious about anything. And I know that, but by nature, these worrying thoughts keep creeping back. Yet, I keep reminding myself of these truths...I trust God completely, I know He is in control, and I know He loves my daughter more than I do, I trust Him completely. And I can't help but look at everything Mia has been through and the hand of God is so evident to me, that is a great reminder in itself.

So, here are some things to be praying for.

1. Health, that's a biggie because there seems to be so much going around these days, I keep hearing about more and more people getting sick, so continue to pray for Mia's health prior to surgery.

2. The doctors and surgery team, pray that they would be energized and rested on Wednesday, that God would grant them skill and success in her surgery.

3. Tuesday, the day before surgery, I have to give Mia some medicine (Oral Fleet, what you take before a colonoscopy...), and I have no clue how she's going to react, how her body will handle it. She also is going to be on a clear liquid diet after that until after her surgery on Wednesday, so I'm not sure how she will tolerate that either, pray for a smooth Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

As always, thanks for praying for our little pumpkin!!!

Better

So, Mia is doing great today, which makes me think it was either a tummy that was too full or something she ate didn't sit well with her. We are grateful she is feeling normal again. Please continue to pray for good health over the next couple of days.

We've started decorating for Christmas since we aren't going to be here over Thanksgiving. It's been really nice because I will slowly bring out another box of stuff and Mia gets excited to dig through it and see what's inside. She loves the Christmas tree and the nativity sets we have. She especially likes the animals, go figure. Anyway, she was rather cooperative in this photo shoot today, so here are a few pictures of our sweet pea. Notice the pigtails, that was alot of fun. ;)

Mia threw up this afternoon. She wasn't acting normal after she got up from her nap and then she just threw up. She only did it once, so I'm not sure if she has a bug or if it was related to something she ate that didn't settle in her tummy properly. She didn't have a fever and seemed fine this evening, but please pray that it is nothing serious and that she is healthy for surgery next week. Ultimately, we will trust God for his timing and if she isn't well next week then we will need to reschedule. Pray for God's perfect timing and for our wisdom to discern that. We will keep you posted on how she is feeling.

Pre-Op Visit

Today we went to LA to see Mia's intestinal surgeon for a pre-op visit. We also needed to move up to the final size on her dilator! Yay, we are finally at a 13!!! The visit went great, I can't believe that surgery will be next week Wednesday, that just seems like it is going to get here very soon. We got some instructions for getting ready on Tuesday, Mia will be on a liquid diet the day before and she'll be given some medicine to clean out the intestines. You can be praying now that the process would go easily for her, it will be very similar to the process before a colonoscopy, and people keep telling me it isn't fun. She can have as much jello, pedialyte, chicken broth, clear liquids as she wants, but still, I'm not sure how that will go. The good news is it is only 1 day!

After seeing her surgeon, we got a sweet visit from the gal who schedules all of the pediatric surgery visits, Gail. I feel like we have become friends since I seemed to talk to her every couple of days this summer when we were trying to get Mia's bottom healed. And she just feels closely connected to Mia, so she came over and finally got to meet Mia. It was very sweet, she brought her a UCLA bear, which Mia loves and didn't want to put down for the car ride home. :)

After that we went downstairs for Mia to have an echo done of her heart. I think it looked great, but won't know for certain until one of the cardiologists reads it and gets back to us. So, assuming that looks fine and we are in good health, then we are a go for next week Wednesday surgery.

On a side note, Mia is not gaining weight, in fact, she's lost some weight, and I'm at a loss because I feel like she's eating fairly well. Pray for wisdom and maybe some direction, maybe it's time to see a dietician or a GI doctor (not surgeon) and get some input from them. And I know kids grow at their own pace and she is getting longer, she's just not getting heavier, we've been at this weight for almost 4 months now. So, please be praying for us in that also. (I'm not worrying, which is actually a praise because in the past I worried so much about it, I just need some guidance.)

As always, thanks for praying!

Soon

It's hard to believe that we are getting very close to Mia's final surgery. I was changing her colostomy bag today thinking, wow, I might not be doing this very much longer. Life will definitely be different without a colostomy bag. I can't even imagine what it will be like. So, some things you can pray for as we prepare for her next surgery.

1. Health, we are all recovering from a cold, so pray that Mia especially would be healthy and ready for surgery in a week and a half.

2. The doctors and surgery team, wisdom and preparedness for the day.

3. Peace, I get a bit anxious when I think about it, but then I remember how God has taken care of us through everything and it settles my nerves, but I am human, so pray that myself and Brad would be reminded of God's truths when we start to feel anxious or nervous.

On a different note, Mia has come so far in her eating, she's doing great...we are eating more new foods and more difficult foods and her chewing is getting stronger and better, so Praise God! Also, she's saying a few more sounds, every now and then we get a hi in the middle of a he and a ha, so Praise God for that also, please keep praying for more sounds and speech!

Wedding Photos

I would have put these photos on yesterday, but the thumb drive they were on mysteriously went to work, so here they are today!

Mommy & Mia, Aunt Rachel & Cousin Joy!

These are the birds that Mia almost pulled onto the floor as we were waiting for the ceremony to start. Brad was walking his mother in, so I was holding Mia until he came back and she grabbed the cage and started pulling...thankfully I was able to stop her in time and the crisis was diverted. The birds say thank you.

Joy, Aunt Rachel, and Beautiful Bride Aunt Goose (also known as Laura)

At the end of the night, Mia in her pajamas, us dancing one last song before I take her into the stairwell (far enough away from the loud music) so she can sleep.

At the hotel, not at the wedding, but what a cute family!

Home

We got home last night from our lovely vacation to Portland! It was great, we got to enjoy Jared and Laura's wedding while spending time with family on our vacation. Mia had quite a few "firsts" on this trip, which were very exciting. It was her first airplane trip, which she did super on. We had no problems with ears or anything, thank you God! It was her first time being a flowergirl, of which will forever be a sweet memory for me. Did she throw petals...not really, until after she was done going down the aisle, then she decided she knew exactly what too do, oh well. It was very precious regardless. It was also her first time holding a dove and letting it go! Jared's family has about 60 doves that they maintain and people use at weddings and funerals for release. Well, Jared's dad let each of the kids release a dove the Sunday after the wedding at their home. I can't even describe how excited Mia was and how much she enjoyed watching those birds fly away. It was too cute! And lastly, it was Mia's first "official" time in a swimming pool with a suit and swimmer diapers. :) She loved the water, so I am very excited for us to start water physical therapy in the new year.

Here are a few photos from our trip away.

Mia and her cousin Joy from Italy!

Holding the dove...

A dove being released...

Swimming!

Having a great time in Portland!

First Plane Trip!

Last night we drove up to Sacramento where my (Lisa's) brother lives. We spent the night there and some time with them this morning before we flew out of Sacramento to Portland. Mia did pretty well in the car until it was 8pm and she was ready for bed, but we still had another hour and a half to go. At that point she was too tired, so we ended up pulling off the freeway and I held her for about 10 minutes until she fell asleep, then back in the carseat and asleep for the rest of the trip.

I didn't know how she was going to do on the plane today with the changes in air pressure, but she did great! Praise God! Thanks for praying. I kept having her munch on Lucky Charms and take sips from her sippy cup and she did great. We ended up using her carseat on the plane, which was great because she's so used to being strapped into it anyway. She did so well, I was so pleased with her first plane trip. The flight was only 1 hour and 45 minutes, so I think it was a good flight to break us in, I know that something longer might be a bit more difficult, but so far so good. It gives me hope for future plane trips.

Once in Portland we met Grampa at the airport and were taken to our hotel and then finally, Mia got to meet Joy. Joy is Tim & Rachel's little girl, the two girls have actually met a summer ago, but they were too young to remember, probably still are, but it was so neat to see them in the same location together. Mia is definitely more shy than Joy who warmed up pretty quickly and began to say "Mia" quite a bit (she's been practicing...), but I will give the girls another day or two together and I imagine they will be fast friends.

We are loving the Portland weather, nice and cool, just like fall should be and trees...so pretty, Mia kept pointing at them as we were driving...there just aren't trees like that in lovely bako-land. We'll post more pictures as we get them. :)

School Pictures and more...

Today Mia had her very first school pictures taken. I was rather amused with the whole process, you try to get a bunch of little kids to look at you and smile nicely for the camera. There was one little boy in Mia's class who was such a ham, he stood nicely, tilted his head a bit and gave this super cute smile. He would be perfect as the next Baby Gap model. Mia did pretty well, it only took them 4 shots to get a "good" picture...we'll see how it turns out. :)

Tomorrow we leave on our vacation for Brad's little sister's wedding. We are flying on Wednesday, so pray for safe travel and for Mia's ears with the air pressure, I'm not exactly sure how she's going to do. Pray for a restful vacation amidst all the wedding stuff. Mia is going to be a flowergirl, along with her cousin Joy, so we should get plenty of cute pictures of the two of them together.

And we now have a surgery date for Mia's final intestinal surgery (and hopefully final surgery ever...), it will be on November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. I just realized that is only 23 days away, a little more than 3 weeks, that is going to go quick, so please pray for us as we prepare for that.

Happy Halloween!

This year Mia was a flower for Halloween. We went trick or treating at Grampa and Nana's house and then we went to our church for their harvest festival. It was alot of fun. Some people brought some 1 day old baby cows, so Mia got to pet one of them, it was very sweet. And of course there were alot of games and trunk or treating.

Praise God!

Tuesday evening Mia started saying "ah" again. It's been forever since we've heard that sound, so we were so excited when it showed up again! Will you join me in a Praise God!!!! And of course when we went to speech therapy today they were all super excited too. :)

At physical therapy we've been working on going from sitting on a little bench to standing without any help, just using the leg muscles to push to stand, and Mia has gotten very good at it. She loves playing this "game" with us, where we hold something up and she has to get it, or we give her something and she has to stand up to put it in a bucket...it's really rather silly, but since she loves it we play it because we know it's a great strengthening/balance game. In the past few days I've noticed her go from being able to stand by herself for 3 seconds to 10 seconds, we're a making huge progress. It is really encouraging and I realize that we are one step closer to walking, which is so exciting. Here is a video of Mia and Daddy playing the "game".

We went to LA today to see Mia's intestinal surgeon again. We are now on a size 12 dilator and the goal is a 13, so he said that's it time to schedule her next surgery...hopefully this will be her final surgery! Everything looks great, she has a slight hernia, but he said that is common with having a stoma and that he will fix it when she has her surgery. It should be very minimally invasive, but there is a slight risk of infection because of a surgery involving the intestine and stool. So, we will be praying for no infections, of course, but it was just something he wanted us to be aware of. I don't have a date for the surgery yet, they will be calling me in the next week or so, so you can be praying for God's perfect timing in the scheduling of this. I will keep you updated when we learn more about when it will happen.

Lounging Around...

So, Mia got these fabulous "lounge pants" last Christmas and they finally fit her, well, sort of...but aren't they stinking cute! And yes, the helmet, she still wears it to sleep in and so this picture was taken right after she got up in the morning.

The Pumpkin Patch

Tonight we took Mia to the pumpkin patch again...this time with Daddy and some friends of ours from our Bible Study. Mia enjoyed all the pumpkins again and here are a few photos from the event.

A long week...

We've had a crazy busy week and are so looking forward to the weekend. Mia has been doing really well. She is loving school and I continue to see her making so much good progress, God is so good! She is learning to be around people other than her mommy and today at school she played for a good 15 minutes before she even realized I wasn't near her, that's really good progress for her. Some of the new things she is doing are the following...every now and then she'll pull herself up to her shopping cart (not new), and then let go for a few seconds where she is completely standing alone by herself (very new!!!)...that's exciting and definitely worth a Praise God! Continue to pray for more progress in standing alone (it takes a whole lotta balance...). She's also making some new sounds, again, Praise God! We hear an occasional yuh, and a th every now and then, so please pray that she would produce even more sounds. Lastly, she now will say, he he, for yes. So, if you ask her if she wants something and she does, she'll respond "he he". That's been very nice. If she doesn't want it she'll make this fussing sound, we will work on No now. ;)

On Tuesday (our only free day of the week), we got to visit Daddy at work. That was alot of fun and it was so nice to see so many people who continue to pray for Mia. There are some pictures of her hanging up in some of the classrooms and so in one that we went to visit the teacher told the students, "you were wondering who this little girl was, well, here she is...", it's like she's famous! We are truly blessed at how many people care for her there. And everywhere else, she is a well loved baby! So, thank you again to everyone for always remembering our little girl in your prayers.

Nothing much new to report from Mia. We are diligently working on her speech and occasionally get sounds from her, so you can continue to pray for more sounds and different sounds. The stretching process isn't fun, but she has been doing much better, so thank you for praying! We have another week at this size and then we'll switch again...we are getting quite a bit closer to surgery time, so pray for scheduling and patience on our part. On a praise, she is getting used to letting more and more different people handle her at school and therapy, etc. So, I feel like we are very close to being able to leave her in the nursery and go to church, pray that she'd continue to make progress in that area! Thanks for praying!

Today Mia decided that she wanted to feed herself with the spoon. Usually when I give her a spoon she just plays with it and occasionally brings it to her mouth, but today she made a big mess, but was able to get quite a bit of her cup of applesauce in her mouth on her own. It was neat to see and we love progress!

Lately she has been into her own image wherever she can find it. She'll watch herself in the fireplace for long periods of time, and today it was really cute, she was watching herself drink out of her sippy cup. The dishwasher and stove are two other good spots to find her image. And of course at therapy they have a huge mirror that she loves to be by and watch herself do everything in the mirror. I think she is just amused that her reflection does everything that she does.

Mia's birthday is on October 12th, and it's super special to me (Lisa) because my dad died on October 12th in 2001. So, I wanted to start a tradition with Mia of taking her to my dad's grave site each October 12th, just so we could take some time to remember Grandpa Dan. Yup, that's why she's a Mia Danielle, after her Grandpa Dan. So, here are some pictures of us there on Monday.






Pray also for Mia, she got her second flu shot today, pray that she doesn't have any reactions from it. The last one was fine, so we are praying that this will be the same. On a sad note, I found out that her pediatrician's office is closing their doors next month, so we will be looking for a new one in the near future, you can pray for wisdom as we find a new place for Mia that is just as wonderful as the one we have been at (we know it's out there, we just don't know where yet...)

Happy Birthday Mia!

Precious Mia,

Wow, time flies when you are having fun and it seems like we just blinked and you turned 2 years old! We love you so much sweetie, you are becoming such a "big" girl! How big? Well, over the last year you've gained 6 pounds 6 ounces to bring you to 21 pounds 10 ounces. And you've stretched out 6 more inches, to make you now 33 inches long...or is it tall, we can't remember. ;) That's alot of 6's!

Over the past year you've learned how to crawl and pull to stand, one of these days you'll be walking, you keep getting closer. But, crawling does get you most places you want to go, including the cat's water dish, which you know is a No No, but it's always so tempting. Sometimes we get you before you make it there and tell you No, other times you get there and splash away before we can catch you...then we have a pretty big mess.

We keep praying that we won't have to spend as much time in the hospital each year, that's our prayer for this coming year. This past year you spent 9 days in the hospital for surgeries, which included heart surgery and surgery to recreate your anal opening. But, because your anal opening didn't heal right you spent another 19 times under anesthesia for the doctor to repack your bottom (wow, 19 more times of anesthesia, that's more than I thought it was), that was alot of 4am trips to LA, no wonder Mommy was so exhausted! And during those repackings you had one long hospital stay of 11 days! That's 20 days in the hospital last year just for hospital stays (that doesn't include doctor appointments...), and 21 times of anesthesia. We are praying that this year we finish with 1 more hospital stay and 1 more time of anesthesia and that we are done, that's what we are praying for big girl!

Over the past year you haven't said too much, in fact, it made us really sad when you stopped saying Mama, but you have learned a dozen signs and we keep teaching you more. Plus, we started speech therapy and we've seen alot of improvement over the past few weeks, so we are praying for lots more words over the next year, we really do love hearing your sweet voice.

This past year you started going to school, you were too smart for your class and they moved you up and you keep learning new things! You also do alot of therapy, our schedule is busy. You now do physical, occupational, and speech therapy...and mommy wants to start taking you to water therapy classes! You're a trooper and you really love all your therapists, so much that you even give them kisses when you go. We do love those kisses!

You continue to be an amazing testimony of the grace and power of the awesome God we serve! Your little life continues to touch so many people, God is using your little life in such an amazing way for Him! We can't wait until you are old enough to understand your own story and get to share it yourself. In the meantime, we keep writing it down so that you'll be able to look back and see how God answered so many of our prayers and healed your body in such an amazing way. We can't say it enough, but thank you God! Yet, even more than healing our little girl, thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross for us!

We love you baby girl,
we are looking forward to the "terrific" two's!

Mommy and Daddy

1.999

We figured 1.999 was close enough to 2 years old that we thought we would celebrate today. You know, we did this last year too, we celebrated her birthday the day before, so we might have to do that always. Anyway, we had a nice time with the grandparents and some aunts and uncles and cousins, and of course, Mia's boyfriend Jacob made a brief appearance. :) And his brother Jonah and mom, too. We had a great time, Mia had a barn cake with pigs, sheep, and ducks...even some edible grass. I noticed some of the guests nibbling on the grass...I thought that was for the animals! Mia got lots of nice toys, even a Meerkat. Here are some photos from the day.

The presents were ready under the "birthday" tree.

The birthday girl was ready too!

The barn and animals were waiting to get eaten...

Cousins Samantha and Seth were having fun with the birthday girl.

Big Yawn! Mommy, why did you wait so long to cut the cake!

Vision Therapy and More...

This morning I got the privilege of speaking at Bakersfield Christian High School's chapel. And I got to share Mia's testimony with them. It was a very sweet time and many of the kids enjoyed getting to see Mia there, some of them had prayed for Mia quite a bit after she was born, so that was really neat.

This afternoon, we went to Dr. Suter's office in town and had another eye exam for Mia. Since CHLA hadn't billed our eye insurance, Mia was still eligible for an eye exam through them and I thought it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. I'm so glad we went. Dr. Suter is wonderful. She did such a great job examining Mia and thought that it would be in her best interest to start some vision therapy sooner rather than later. So, we will start doing this at home, we don't have to go there yet, and it just requires putting a patch over the right eye and doing some stretching/strengthening exercises with her left eye and then switch and repeat. She doesn't have the complete range of vision in her left eye, and so she's hoping that as we stretch and strengthen that will get better. We are going to work her right eye also because somehow the muscles of your eyes are interrelated and that will strengthen her left eye also. We will check back in 2 months and see how she is doing then.

Please keep praying for the stretching process of her anal opening, as Mia continues to progress to the larger sizes it is a bit more uncomfortable and difficult for her. We know it's only temporary, but it's no fun to watch her be in pain as we do this to her.

As always, thanks for praying!!!!

LA

I took Mia to LA today to see her intestinal surgeon, another routine visit as we continue the stretching process. We are now up to a size 11, it's hard to imagine that we are almost to a 13, which is our ending destination. Anyway, at the end of the visit, he said that next time we'll discuss when we are going to do the reconnect surgeon. It kind of took me back for a moment because I didn't think we were that close to ending, but then I realized, we are almost there! Praise God! So, pray that she would continue to tolerate the stretching process over the next 2 months and that the surgery would get scheduled at the appropriate time, that we wouldn't rush into it, but that Mia would indeed be ready for it.

After that we had her helmet get some minor adjustments done. She is still wearing it at night because she sleeps in her hip brace and that forces her on her back for the entire night, so we just want to make sure her head doesn't get flat again in the process.

And then we were back home again, and the good news is that we don't have to go to LA for another 3 weeks! I love it!

Please continue to pray for soft scar tissue! Thank you God for another safe trip there and back and a good visit with the doctor.

This is how I kick it when I'm eating my icecream. Mommy thinks this might be the beginning of teenage attitude???

Practicing for when Mommy takes me to Magic Mountain!

October Already?!

So, where did the year go? I can't believe it's October already. I am very excited for cooler weather and of course, fall, my favorite season.

Yesterday we went to the fair, we enjoyed the animals. Mia gets a big kick out of them when they move around, I guess we are so used to looking at them in books that we don't realize they move??? She loved the bunnies and pigs. And of course we had yummy food and Mia enjoyed part of my corn dog and some funnel cake.

We keep making lots of progress in lots of areas an we are so grateful. She's getting better with her fine motor skills, we've learned to put chips in a slot, we weren't able to do that before. We are still working on learning how to unscrew a top, but we'll get there. We are gaining more and more leg strength all the time, so that's great. Keep praying for more sounds and continued overall development. I can't believe she's almost two! Wow! She's been on quite a journey and God has been so gracious to her along the way. Thank you Lord!

1000 divided by 2

Yup, if you did the math correct, you're right, this is post #500! That's amazing, I can't believe we've written that much. When we first started this blog it was way before Mia and we had a hard time writing 1 post some months, but now life is definitely all about Mia, ok, not all about Mia, but quite a bit, so it's a bit easier to write posts now that we have a great reason. And after she was born, we re-purposed this blog to be all about her, but more importantly, all about God, how He is merciful, gracious, and powerful (to name just a few). We've seen God's mercies new every morning, and we continue to be in awe of His power, we serve an awesome God! So, we just wanted to take a moment to reflect and say, Praise God! Thank you Lord! We are looking forward to the next 500 posts and the way that He will continue to transform our lives!

Galations 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Speech Therapy

Speech Therapy went so well today! I was so excited at Mia's progress. Last Sunday she would occassionally mouth mama, without the voice to go along with it, well at therapy they got her consistantly doing it today! They were just playing with her and bubbles and the therapist kept saying "pop pop pop" and Mia started opening and closing her mouth and then trying to do "pop pop pop" herself, it looks like "mama" too, so that was exciting. Please continue to pray for more progress like that!

And it's official, we've moved into the "new" class at school, the teacher also agrees that it fits Mia better, and I think it will work out great. Today Mia was sorting blue, green, and red pieces into blue, green, and red containers. She actually did pretty well with it, I was pleased.

LA

So we were off to LA today to see Mia's intestinal surgeon and everything looked great. We are now at a size 10, so we are about 1/2 way there, our goal is a size 13...so, we should be done in about 2 more months, since we are taking it real easy.

After we got home, Mia wanted to crawl up on the couch with her kitty, CindyCat...but she still can't quite do it, so I gave her a little push and she did get up there...one of these days though she'll get it and then we'll have to be super careful until she learns how to get down.

CindyCat, I'm gonna get you!

Oh, I so desperately want the CindyCat!

Thanks for the push Mama!

I love my CindyCat!

Nice Cindy!